Prishtina, 18 December 2025
Honorable Mufti Naim Tërnava, Chairman of the Islamic Community of Kosovo,
Honorable Mr. Rifat Fetić, Honorable Mr. Muhamed Jusić, and all participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Honorable Mr. Vedat Sahiti, Chief Imam of the Islamic Community of Kosovo,
Honorable Deputy Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic, Emilija Rexhepi,
Honorable members of the Islamic Community of Kosovo,
Honorable Director of the Kosovo Institute for Crimes Committed During the War, Atdhe Hetemi,
Distinguished professors, researchers, and staff of all departments of the Faculty of Islamic Studies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Sisters and brothers,
Distinguished attendees,
It is my particular pleasure to be here with you today at this important event for our cultural heritage—lost and deliberately destroyed.
Cultural heritage constitutes the foundation of our collective identity. It connects us to the past, strengthens awareness of shared values, and cultivates our responsibility to preserve historical memory for future generations.
During the 1998–1999 war, alongside the loss of thousands of lives and material damage, Kosovo also suffered severe damage to its cultural heritage, which was deliberately targeted and destroyed by Serbian armed forces.
In the judgments of the Hague Tribunal, the intentional destruction of cultural heritage during this war has been classified as a crime against humanity.
At the end of 2021, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo undertook concrete steps to seek justice for the destruction of cultural heritage monuments. A commission composed of local and international experts officially documented the damage and losses, paving the way for our claim for justice and compensation.
According to this report, during the period 1998–1999, 1,788 cultural heritage monuments were destroyed; more than 3,724 museum objects were looted from the collections of Kosovo’s public museums; and 175 public libraries with over 1.7 million books were destroyed. Of the 1,788 destroyed monuments, at least 500 were residential towers, 218 mosques and 11 tekkes, 17 Catholic churches, as well as the Museum of the Albanian League of Prizren.
In this important process of documentation, the Islamic Community of Kosovo has played a special role by contributing valuable information on the destruction of Islamic cultural heritage. Throughout history, the Islamic Community has proven to be an important pillar in preserving and cultivating national, religious, and cultural values in our country.
This exhibition, organized by the Islamic Community of Kosovo and that of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is of particular importance because it clearly and convincingly documents the destruction of religious and cultural heritage as part of a deliberate strategy to erase the cultural and religious identity of our peoples.
Through the documentation of facts, figures, and concrete examples, this exhibition serves as collective memory, as historical evidence, and as a powerful call for crimes against cultural heritage not to be relativized, not to be forgotten, and to be addressed with responsibility and justice.
Preserving memory, documenting the truth, and seeking justice remain permanent obligations of our state.
Allow me to conclude by thanking you all for your engagement and contribution. Together, by preserving memory and documenting the truth, we honor the past and build the future of Kosovo.
